Pianoforte agraffe



May l2, 1925. 1,537,913

` w, M. BAUER PIANOFORTE AGRAFFE Filed oct. 23, 1922 "1' m E y wade? l N f 7T l ff-@@j Patented May 12, 1925.

UNITED STATES WILLIAM M. BAUER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PIANOFORTE AGRAFFE.

Application filed October 23, 1922.

T o all whom t may cofnoewt:

Be it known that I, WVILLTAM M. BAUER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Im provement in Pianoforte Agraffes, of which the fol-lowing is a specification.

My invention relates to an improved construction of the string-bearing provided on the sounding-board bridge in pianos and called an agraife; and it is fully described and explained in the specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a broken section taken through the tuning-pin block, sounding-board and hitch-pin plate of a. piano, showing my improved agraife in position on the bridge upon the sounding board and affording bearing for piano-strings;

Figure 2 is an enlarged plan view of the agrafe;

Figure 3 is a section on line 3-3, Fig. 2, but showing a piano-string in the agrafi'e;

Figure 4 is a plan view of the agraife as represented in Fig. 1, and

Figure 5 is a section on line 5 5, Fig. 3.

The agraife 6 comprises a plurality of fiat-sided similary members 7, of the preferred shape illustrated, rigidly secured together in spaced relation to afford spaces between them for passage and confinement of the piano-strings 8. `While these members may be formed of any suitable ma? terial, including metal, which however is undesirable principally because of being objected to by piano makers and dealers, I prefer to stamp them out of vulcanite fiber of very strong and non-brittle quality adapted to withstand the strain of the tautened strings. Only as many members need be contained in the agraife as are required to provide a space between them for each string, thus three spaces, as shown, that being usual for each treble-tone. The shape of each member 7 involves a substantially rectangular base-portion from which eX- tends a curved head 7a and recessed neck 7b, adjacent to which is a recessed shouldern portion 7 c.

To secure together' the plurality of members 7 for producing my agrade, they are assembled with suitable interposed spacers and secured in their equally-spaced relation by pins 9, passed through their base-por tions. These pins should be surface-rough- Serial No. 596,296.

ened 'f and preferably threaded to screw through alining openings provided to admit them in the assembled members. For securing the agraife in place on the bridge 10 of a sounding board 11 (Fig. 1), studs 12,

preferably surface-roughened, as represented, are provided to be driven into openings formed to receive them in the bridge. By formingthese studs with the flattened perforate heads 12a shown, the latter may be used for the central spacers in the assembly of members 7, the threaded pins being caused to pass through the perforate stud-heads, and permanently and rigidly securing the studs in place. Other spacers (not shown) that may be employed for maintaining, in the present instance, the outermost of the assembled members in their spaced relation while being secured therein, are thereupon withdrawn.

The agraiife thus constructed has one string-bearing point on the shoulder' 7c, another in the neck 7l and a third on a pin 13 insert-ed through the members 7 near the end of the agraife that is its rear end when the agrade is in operative position. For the foremost string-bearing, a metal pin 13L extends across and seats in the recessed shoulders 7c; A similar intermediate bearing pin 13b extends across and seats in recesses in the necks 7b.

The piano-strings 8, extending as usual between tuning-pins 14a on the pin-block 14 and hitch-pins 15PL on the iron plate 15 and passing under a bearing-bar 16 on the block 14 and over an edge-bead 17 on the plate 15, traverse the spaces between the agraffeforming members in which they bear against the pins 13a and 13; and before the strings are tautened to hold the bearing-pin 13a in place, a similar pin 13b is forced over the strings into the recesses in the necks to give the desired degree of deflection to the strings and cause taughtening of them to confine the pin in place. n

I realize that considerable variation is possible in the details of construction herein shown and described and I do not intend to limit my invention thereto except as pointed out in the appended claims, in which it is my intention to claim all the novelty inherent in my invention as broadly as permissible by the state of the art.

I claim:

1. A built-up agrafe comprising a series of separately formed members assembled and rigidly secured together in side-byside spaced relation to form string-receiving space between adjacent members, said agrafe having end and intermediate stringbearings.

A built-up agrale comprising a series of separately formed members, and surfaceroughened pins extending transversely through the series and rigidly securing the members together in spaced relation, said agrail'e having end and intermediate stringbearings. D

3. A built-up agraie comprising a series of separately formed members, pins extending transversely through the series and rigidly securing the members together in spaced relation, said agraffe having end and intermediate string-bearings, and forward and rear anchoring studs extending from between adjacent members.

4. A built-up agratfe comprising a series of separately formed members of vulcanite ber, threaded pins extending transversely through the series and rigidly securing the members together in spaced relation, said agrafi'e having opposite-end bearings and an intermediate bearing, and forward and rear anchoring studs provided with flattened heads surrounding said pins between adjacent members.

VVILLIAM M. BAUER. 

